Does anyone know about this school at all? Is it good, bad.....
I am thinking about going there in fall 07. Please lemme know if you guys have any info abt this school.

my friend just got in and says its ok. some of the students young and like the boy/girl thing-meaning they are not so seriouse.
the prof are ok ...accent alittle difficult. she says they have test every single day and it's not so organized. finally she said it's not the best place to get an MD...I am not sure what that means....but i've asked her and waiting for a response.......
not sure if all that would stop me....its alll about you and your commitment. If u wanna be a doc ...u will no matter what...either way its a long hard journey

finally she said it's not the best place to get an MD...I am not sure what that means....

There are better options out there.

Originally Posted by sumozmom

not sure if all that would stop me....its alll about you and your commitment. If u wanna be a doc ...u will no matter what...

I'd suggest visiting Lublin before making the jump. Also, commitment is not all it takes. How well are you prepared for the academic rigors of medical school? How about relocating your family to a foreign country?

Lublin

I just spent my spring break in lublin, my best friends are there, and we all suffered thru what happened to st christophers in london, i checked out the school, met a lot of people that go there, and of course talked to my friends...this school is legit, the agent might be the only questionable thing, but in terms of accred. they are legit and have been for almost 50 years, remember the school ur applying to is not HMI, they are just the people that hook u up with the medical school, which is a Polish med school...so the school is legit, the people are well of ur choice, if u want drama u can find it ne where, the language is difficult, but in my week there i realized u just need to know a few main words, and the rest people are not complete morons, they do understand some english, i spent a week there and i have to say the town is clean, the school is legit, and its another approach to medicine rather than the carribean path

I just spent my spring break in lublin, my best friends are there, and we all suffered thru what happened to st christophers in london, i checked out the school, met a lot of people that go there, and of course talked to my friends...this school is legit, the agent might be the only questionable thing, but in terms of accred. they are legit and have been for almost 50 years, remember the school ur applying to is not HMI, they are just the people that hook u up with the medical school, which is a Polish med school...so the school is legit, the people are well of ur choice, if u want drama u can find it ne where, the language is difficult, but in my week there i realized u just need to know a few main words, and the rest people are not complete morons, they do understand some english, i spent a week there and i have to say the town is clean, the school is legit, and its another approach to medicine rather than the carribean path

great info...i friend goes there and has no complaits...but some in organization...other wisw its good.

be careful

I'm a graduate from one of the Polish universities. I did A LOT of work on my own to get me where I am today.
1. Agents=EVIL. In essence it's a business making scheme, leeching money from helpless students and controlling the universities by setting contracts that they cannot admit students without the agent. This HMI company has been the pinnacle of unscrupulous tactics. Feel free to visit the CEOs multi-million dollar home in Virginia. Then feel free to see how many alumni from his universities are actually practicing physicians. Get names, get locations, get contact numbers and get a lot of them.
2. Independent universities- Preferable. The profits they make stay within the universities and thus re-invested. Many of the independent universities not only cater to americans, but to europeans, middle eastern, and south asian communities. Thus they have a reputation to hold. Especially because some of the M.E. and S.A. graduates stay within Poland as opposed to the US agency schools. Think about it, if you were training a physician who was going to stay in your country, you'd want to train him/her well. If you were training someone who is going abroad and the bottom line is making profits, you're not gonna really care how they turn out in the end.
Also compare the independent univ. syllibi, they are more akin to what the Polish students study and a lot more fun--you get an earlier exposure to clinical medicine and fun electives.
3. Get FIRST TIME board passing scores in writing. You'll note that many programs dodge around this and other important facts. Don't be fooled! I know the HMI company actually had a contest for students to write sappy letters, but then were distributed to applicants as being genuine out-of-the-blue appreciation letters.
4. The language barrier is an issue, being of Polish origin, I could often ellicit a better understanding by later speaking to the professors in Polish. This was not an option for my colleagues who became very frustrated.
5. In the end, I'm not entirely sure these schools would prepare you for (US) boards. The medical education in the US is very integrative and clinically focused, whereas in Poland and much of central-eastern EU the education is more basics and core concepts rather than correlations.
And this whole baloney of being able to do rotations in the US. You can arrange it with the independent universities. The rotations set up by agents are nearly as much as a US med student pays, but without the educational component, the hospital affiliation with these agents are often sporadic, there one day, gone the next. I would be very careful of this temptation.
best to all of you. I gave a friend this same advice, he went to the carribean and seems to be happy. If you have the time, I encourage you to re-apply in the US to allopathic or osteopathic med school before choosing this route.

Another thing, I heard in the school in Katowice that there is quite a big of drug abuse problem and violence. Including a student murder in katowice and an assault of a student (broke her jaw? nose?) in Lublin in the middle of the town square in daytime!!! I would like to forewarn non-caucasian students that this problem exists. Most Polish people do not behave like this, but unfortuantely there are some that do and even with a small population of minorities you can see how they make themselves visible.
I think msmertka post is really reflective of what it's really like.